Archive for December, 2008

Ever since the summer, when I was marathon training and Pfitz called for speed workouts at 5K pace, the goal I always shot for was 7:15.  I really liked that number, it equated to my original goal of a 3:39 marathon and after the marathon was over, equated to my dream 5K goal of 22:30.  Even when I did long intervals like those 1.25 miles a couple weeks ago, I was using 7:15 as my goal pace.

This week I had to (happily) let go of 7:15 and move up a notch.  I made a little paper with McMillan’s output for 22:14 and 22:00 race times so I could see what it takes to get from here to there.  Now it’s possible that Dec. 20th’s 5K won’t be as beautifully flat as the Turkey Trot (another race I did in that town was quite rolling) so I could very well see a slower result than last weekend, but I’m going to do my best to at least match it.

Today’s workout was a confidence booster.  I did 7.25 miles total with 6 x 1/2 mile, 2:00 recoveries.  Splits on the intervals were 3:32, 3:31, 3:30, 3:29, 3:34, 3:32 for an average of 3:31, which comes out to 7:02 pace.  Last time I did this same workout (three weeks ago), I was aiming for 7:15 avg. pace and managed 7:17, which I was still very pleased with.  I’m way more pleased today.

Funny how, with a little steady, concerted effort, you can really evoke a change.  And that’s what’s so darn swell about training.

…or can’t, you’re right.
-Henry Ford

Today was tempo day and I’d been worrying about it since last night, wondering what pace to shoot for. Now that my 5K time is faster than I thought, my quality workout paces need to reflect that, but on the other hand, I don’t want them to be too uncomfortable, they shouldn’t be or I’m not doing them right.

So I figured I’d play it by ear today, really try to lock into effort instead of numbers. My main thing was I didn’t want to berate myself if I didn’t go as fast as McMillan’s fast end of the range.

Turns out, the run felt so good that I ended up as surprised as I was at Saturday’s race, with my fastest tempo run ever, 4 miles @ 7:29 avg. (7:35, 7:23, 7:29, 7:30).   Then I ran 3 more miles to get home at 8:35/mi.  Total distance: 8.75 w/ 4 tempo.

If you’d have told me last week that I would run these paces today and it wouldn’t wipe me out, I wouldn’t have believed you.  It’s as if the race gave me permission to go faster. Which reminds of what a couple of those fab gals in my Women’s BQ thread say on occasion, “Don’t be afraid to be fast”.  I think there may be something to that.